Israel’s choice of targets disappoints pro-Israel Iran opposition supporters

Supporters of an Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic have taken to social media to express their frustration with Israel’s choice of targets in Saturday’s air strikes, excluding the political leadership.

Many Iranians invested their hopes in Israel in the past few months to help them overthrow the Islamic Republic by launching wide-ranging air strikes against it.

They expected Israel to target Iran’s top officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as well as sensitive government centers such as the headquarters of the state broadcaster IRIB to paralyze the state propaganda machine.

Supporters of Israeli military action against Iran used several hashtags such as #اسرائیل_بزن (Strike them, Israel) in their social media posts to encourage the Israeli government to take quicker action against the Islamic Republic.

Israel, however, seems to have focused its operation, dubbed “Days of Reckoning”, on striking only Iran's sensitive military targets and said it had achieved its objectives, at least for now.

“[The attack] was very weak and limited. [Israel] didn’t strike [Khamenei’s] residence, it didn’t strike nuclear and oil production facilities, we are very disheartened,” one of the seemingly disillusioned Iranians who had hoped an Israeli strike would help bring about a change in the government wrote.

“I believe that we ordinary people are not aware of the behind-the-scenes equations … But we, the people of Iran, need breathing space to get rid of the Islamic Republic. This attack, whatever it was, has not created opportunities yet for the [Iranian] people [to overthrow the Islamic Republic],” another post on X read.

Many complaints were posted as comments to the Israeli foreign ministry and Israeli Defense Force’s Persian-language posts on X following the air strikes.

“You should have done it twenty days ago if you wanted to launch such a weak attack. You dallied so long and caused the rate of the dollar and gold coins to soar. You put pressure on the suffering people so that you would strike four military garrisons. The Iranian people were your best allies [but] you ruined our hopes,” one of the comments to an IDF post said.

“The head of the snake in Tehran, the residences of the heads of the government, even the mausoleum of the scoundrel Khomeini are still all standing. Did you really want to target the heart of the Hezbollah like this??????” an X account that usually tweets in favor of monarchy commented under a tweet by Hananya Naphtali, a popular Israeli social media activist who tweets in Persian, about the strikes.

“Only this? Did you make so much noise for this? ... You struck in a way that they can deny [damages] to end everything,” another seemingly disillusioned Iranian responded to a Naphtali post.

Tens of others expressed similar sentiments in their comments to Naphtali’s tweet.

Naphtali also launched a poll on X after the strikes to find out if Iranians were happy with the attacks. Over 14,000 took part in the poll within nine hours from the time the poll was launched. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents chose the “No” option.

“We are happy that you struck but our expectations were not met. The Octopus is still breathing and its arms will grow again and it will harm you, let us tell you,” one of the comments under the poll read.

But not all were unhappy, those who approved of the Israeli military action used the hashtags #نتانیاهو_مچکریم(Thank you, Netanyahu), and #اسرائیل_متشکریم(Thank you Israel) in the early hours of the air strikes and later. Some of them contended that the overnight Saturday strikes were only the beginning, and Israel would continue to strike at the Islamic Republic to weaken and eventually destroy it.

“We definitely expected a more crushing attack but I think it is too early to judge now … I think it is unlikely that Israel will stop at this and will eventually destroy the regime, not if for our sake, but at least for its own survival,” one of them said.

Iranian officials have so far not indicated a clear decision to strike back. The statements released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Joint Staff of the Armed Forces Saturday underlined Iran's “right to self-defense” but rather than revenge, highlighted the need for a “sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza and Lebanon “to avoid further casualties in these regions.

Iran has been demanding a ceasefire, as its proxies, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas face continued military pressure by Israel, losing leaders and cadres to constant attacks.